Home on the Range DVD Review:

Living on a farm called “Patch of Heaven” couldn’t get any better for dairy cows Grace (Tilly) and Mrs Calloway (Dench). Even the distraction of a new cow called Maggie (Roseanne) joining the very small herd can’t upset the tranquillity. Everything is perfect until the girls find out that their owner Pearl (Cook) can’t afford the mortgage repayments and the farm has been put up for auction. Fearing what will happen next, Maggie comes up with a plan. They’ll capture the state’s most notorious bandit Alameda Slim (Quaid) and use the reward money to pay off Pearl’s debt.

This could be the last traditional 2D animated feature that Disney ever make but is Home on the Range a good enough effort to strive off its untimely demise? The answer is no.

Whilst this movie is a much better effort from the traditional Disney department, Home on the Range just doesn’t have what it takes to compete with the movies that Pixar, PDI and the other 3D studios are producing. The main problem is the slightness of the story. It is basically cows become bounty hunters and have an adventure. That’s it, nothing more and for a very short 76 minutes that is all we get. This is what the 2D department of Disney have been lacking from their productions over the last few years and why they have been unable to produce anything that the viewing public has really taken to their hearts since their last triumph Tarzan in 1999.

What Home on the Range does have going for it is some good, fun characters. Roseanne, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly make Maggie, Mrs Calloway and Grace instantly loveable characters. The though of three dairy cows becoming bounty hunters is quite a funny proposition and the three actresses really bring the characters to life. Roseanne is her usual confident self and this makes Maggie the wise-cracker of the group who provides many of the laughs. Judi Dench’s Mrs Calloway brings class to the proceeding and isn’t scared to bring some upper-class comedy of her own to the table. Jennifer Tilly plays hippy cow Grace to perfection, you just can’t image anyone else voicing this role.

Accompanying the three ladies is a very funny vocal performance from Cuba Gooding Jr as Buck, the sheriff’s house who dreams of adventure and been the hero. This horse Kung-Fu action is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Randy Quaid portrays another memorable Disney villain in Alameda Slim, the no-good cattle rustler whose dulcet, yodelling tones can bend any cow to his will. Add to this a couple of good guest appearances from Steve Buscemi and Estelle Harris and you have the best 2D vocal ensemble in a long while.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Home on the Range, it is very good family entertainment but this probably isn’t the swansong that Disney’s Traditional Animation Department would have wanted. This is more akin to The Emperor’s New Groove than classics like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion. Sadly those types of movies are now from a bygone age.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, this is a good transfer. As with all animation transfers, the picture quality is first rate through out, highlighting the traditional animation superbly. The sound is also good, emphasising the vocal performances of the cast extremely well.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (15.45 mins)

Entitled ‘Heroes, Villains and Cows’, ‘Slim for President’, ‘Coyote Chase’ and ‘Meet Lucky Jack’, these four deleted scenes are introduced by directors Will Finn and John Sanford, as they outline why the scenes where cut. The scenes are a combination of animated storyboards and partially completed animation.

Music & More

Music Video ‘Anytime you need a Friend’ by The Beu Sisters (3.15 mins)

Watch the young starlet’s video used to promote the movie.

Games & Activities

The Joke Corral

Listen to a cavalcade of jokes told by Maggie, Buck, Mrs. Calloway, Piggy and Grace

Yodel Memory Game

Play an interactive memory game with Maggie, Buck, Mrs. Calloway, Piggy and Grace.

Yodel-mentary (2.43 mins)

A brief history of Yodelling, as told by Maggie, Buck, Mrs. Calloway, Piggy and Grace.

Backstage Disney

Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range (16.42 mins)

Writers/directors Will Finn and John Sanford, producer Alice Dewey, dialogue writer Shirley Pierce, supervising animators Mark Henn, Duncan Majorbanks and Chris Buck, background artist Cristy Maltese Lynch, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glen Slater take you behind the scenes of the making of Home on the Range. They talk about the origins of the story, character design and setting the scene for the movie. We also get the see the vocal performances of Rosanne Barr, Randy Quaid, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly been recorded. Alan Menken and Glen Slater take you behind the scenes of the recording of the songs with K D Lang, Randy Quaid and Bonnie Raitt. This is an interesting featurette that allows the people who created the movie have there time in the spotlight.

Art Review (10.17 mins)

Art director David Culter and background artist Cristy Maltese Lynch talk about their influences and inspirations behind the look of Home on the Range. They reveal the development of the artwork and we get to see the characters and background development process, as they decide on styles and looks for the film.

Audio Commentary

Writers/directors Will Finn an John Sanford and producer Alice Dewey provide a informative and chatty commentary. For those of you who have ever wondered about the amount of work that goes into an animated movie, this track will enlighten you to the facts that you have been craving for. They take you from the start of production in 1999 to the finished article, revealing the large amount of changes the script characters and voices went through of the course of production. They also talk about their influences, the in-jokes they inserted into the film and the homage to the spaghetti western. This is a good, chatty commentary track that provides a fascinating insight into how a 2D animated movie is made.

Bonus Short

A Diary Tale: The Three Little Pigs (3.02 mins)

Maggie, Buck, Grace and the Pigs listen to Mrs. Calloway’s story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf.

Trailers

Previews of Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, The Incredibles, Alice in Wonderland, The Aladdin Trilogy and Bambi

OVERALL

For a single disc DVD for a family film, Disney has done a good job with Home on the Range. The extras are a good mix of material for the kids and interesting facts for the adults. The commentary track is very good and the making of… featurettes are informative and fun. As this is the last 2D animated movie that Disney is planning to release, this is well worth renting or buying as it is the last of a tradition.

DVD Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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